This fourth Soviet attempt to achieve a soft-landing on the Moon failed to reach an intermediate orbit around Earth.

During the boost phase, the launcher's third-stage engine's main liquid oxygen valve failed to
open when the valve rod broke off. As a result, the third-stage engine never reached full thrust and eventually cut off prematurely at T+489 seconds. The spacecraft never reached
Earth orbit.

Key Dates

21 Mar 1964: Launch (08:15:35 UT)

Status: Unsuccessful

Fast Facts

The Soviets celebrated their space exploration progress in 1964 with a stamp honoring Konstantin Tsiolkovsky (right), one of the father's of modern rocket science.

Tsiolkovsky's early work inspired many of the early successes in the Soviet rocket program.

He died in 1935 -- more than two decades before his ideas of space travel became reality.